„Topos”: pismo literackie, idee, środowisko. Studia

Abstract

This monograph contains materials on the history of the Polish literary magazine “Topos”, published in Sopot since 1993. During its 30-year history, the bimonthly has been continuously run by Krzysztof Kuczkowski – a Sopot poet, editor, cultural organiser, manager of the Sierakowski Manor in Sopot. Kuczkowski gave the magazine a clear ideological line: it is a magazine for supporters of literature open to the metaphysical dimension, inspired by Christianity, attached to the canon and faithful to the idea of classical beauty. Around the “Topos” magazine a group of eight poets gathered, who – without forming a group – formed a loose association called the “’Topos’ constellation”. It consists of: Krzysztof Kuczkowski, Wojciech Kass, Wojciech Kudyba, Artur Nowaczewski, Przemysław Dakowicz, Jarosław Jakubowski, Adrian Gleń and Wojciech Gawłowski. Kuczkowski also initiated the publishing of the prestigious Topos Library, which has published over 180 volumes of poetry and many other critical books and anthologies. Every two years he also organised the Sopot Literature Festival. “Topos”, its editor and the poets gathered around the magazine became an impor tant institution in Polish culture at the beginning of the 21st century, strongly oppose the domination of the post-modern trend in culture. The conference “Topos”: literary magazine, idea, artistic environment (Bialystok, 15–16/11/2018) in Białystok was organised by the “East – West” Department of Philological Research. Department of Inter war and Contemporary Literature of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Białystok, the Society of Friends of Sopot, the Łukasz Górnicki Academic Department of the Książnica Podlaska, and the “Oikoumene” Academic Association. The originator of the session was Professor Jarosław Ławski, cooperating with “Topos” since 2012. Twenty-four papers were presented at the Conference (most are included in this volume). The following research questions were addressed: – “Topos”: the history of the magazine, the reception of its output. – The idea of topoi in the magazine’s circle, its aesthetic and axiological profile. – The Constellation of the “Topos” poets: individualities, ideas, themes, traditions. – The “Topos Library”: its creators, ideas, works, their interpretations. – Poetry and poets in the pages of “Topos”. Débuts. – Critical literary thought of the circles focused around the magazine. – “Topos” and polemics around the model of Polish literature in 1989/1993–2018. – The concept of the word in the circle of the authors of “Topos”. – The literary life of the community: festivals, prizes, meetings with authors. – The ideas of “Topos” in the new media: radio, Internet, television. The monograph presents two types of texts: (1) those devoted to the journal “Topos”, its history, its initiatives, and (2) those focused on the literary achievements of the poets of the “‘Topos’ constellation”. The volume was edited by Prof. Jarosław Ławski – researcher of, among other things, contemporary poetry, author of the essay Konstelacja Toposu [The Constellation of Topos] (afterword to the anthology Konstelacja Toposu, Sopot 2015). The volume contains rich illustrative material about the magazine, changes in its graphic design, authors and events, as well as the Conference, which was accompanied by cultural events (the meeting of “To pos” poets with readers in the Książnica Podlaska, the meeting of Krzysztof Kuczkowski with high school students from the 4th High School in Białystok, the panel “Topos” – the magazine and the world of ideas, on 16 November 2018). It is worth mentioning that the creator of the journal and the protagonist of the monograph Krzysztof Kuczkowski (born 1955) on the first day of the Conference (15 November 2018) was honoured with the All-Polish Franciszek Karpiński Prize, awarded for the 24th time by the Catholic Association “Civitas Christiana”. In its justification for the Prize, the jury emphasised that the Laureate received it for “creating an original model of metaphysical poetry, running the bimonthly ‘Topos’ for a quarter of a century, and organising a unique centre of Christian culture and literature”. This monograph presents all aspects of the magazine and its editor.